1943 Argentine coup d'etat

The 1943 Argentine coup d'etat occurred on 4 June 1943 when the Argentine military, instigated by the United Officers' Group (GOU), overthrew the corrupt regime of Ramon Castillo and established a military dictatorship.

Castillo had come to power in 1942 after the fradulent President Roberto M. Ortiz fell ill; as Vice-President, Castillo succeeded him. The growth in industry and the working class in 1943 anticipated major sociopolitical changes, leading to the GOU, led by generals Arturo Rawson and Pedro Pablo Ramirez, plotting a military coup against Castillo. At the dawn of 4 June, 8,000 Argentine Army soldiers marched into Buenos Aires. The Argentine Navy was the only branch of the military to side with the government, and 30 were killed and 100 wounded during clashes at the Naval Petty-Officers School of Mechanics. President Castillo fled on a trawler bound for Uruguay, and Rawson proclaimed himself president. The United States and the United Kingdom backed the coup, while the German embassy burned its files.

All political and social forces in Argentina, with the sole exception of the Communist Party of Argentina, backed the coup. On 6 June, however, Rawson was forced to resign due to controversy over his intended nomination of right-wing regime loyalists to his cabinet, and Ramirez took over as president for eight months. Ramirez's dictatorship solidified state control over trade unions, and it clamped down on socialist and communist unions. The country was taken over by Catholic-Hispanic nationalists who opposed entry into World War II on the Allied side, and the pro-Allied Foreign Minister Segundo Storni resigned. Juan Peron rose in the ranks of the junta due to his strong working-class support, and he survived the numerous changes in leadership that ensued. Ramirez resigned in March 1944, and he was replaced by Edelmiro Julian Farrell, who increased the unionization of workers. Farrell and Peron teamed up to reshape workers' relations, and the two of them also entered Argentina into World War II on the Allied side in 1945. Soon, Peronist and anti-Peronist forces began to clash, and Peron was arrested on 12 October. After several mass protests, Peron was released, and he was elected president in 1946 with the support of old laboring groups, new urban residents, and recent migrants from the countryside. The revolution ultimately led to the rise of Peronism in Argentine politics.